Overlanding To Australia – Part 11
Almost six months to the day since they left the UK, Haydon and Me-an arrive for their most uncertain border crossing so far – Thailand
Almost six months after they left the UK, our honeymooners arrive in the Land of Smiles
When we were planning this trip, Thailand had always been our midway goal. The detailed planning had been done up until that point. Our research had told us that the Land Rover would be given six months to stay and we could figure out the further details of our next move from there in the comfort of Me-an’s childhood home. However, all that changed on June 23, 2016 (the same day as the Brexit referendum, coincidently).
The new regulations introduced by Thailand’s Department of Transport (DLT) meant that all foreign-registered vehicles (apart from those registered in some neighbouring countries) now require a permit to enter Thailand for the maximum of 30 days per visit, limited to two visits in a calendar year. An agent is required in order to process the application at the cost of 7000 bath (£140) per entry. It takes 30 to 45 days to process and the dates of entry and exit had to be specified on the permit.
After the restrictions in China, we were hoping for a more flexible itinerary but it wasn’t to be. So we decided to stay in Loas for the maximum duration of our visa, which was 30 days, and hope that our permit for Thailand would arrive in time.
We engaged one of the two agents to apply for a permit for us. Finally, three days before the crossing date, the permit arrived with all the relevant documents. We now had everything ready to cross the border.
Being able to speak the local language was a big help and we managed to get through the border relatively quickly. The border guards were very interested in the car, however one of the lazy guards regretted asking what was in our rooftop Pelicase, as he had to climb up on top of the car to inspect it.
After a five hour journey, Me-an was finally home. There was much excitement and a massive amount of food being prepared by Me-an’s mum. This is Thai hospitality and we immediately got stuck in.
As we would have a stable base for a month, I thought it was a good time to give the Defender some much-needed tender loving care. We got online to order some parts from the UK and started researching where we could source the correct engine oil and other fluids. We got in touch with Land Rover Thailand and they were able to supply all the fluids, but at a price much higher than we wanted to pay. We were not able to get the exact oil in the manual and finding the equivalent oil was not as simple as it sounds. In the end, we managed to get something with the right viscosity and additives.
The roof also needed some attention. After the corrugated road in Mongolia and six months of us sleeping on top of the car, some of the rivets holding the roof together had popped. The vibration from the road also meant that the doors had been rubbing on the frame. I came up with a solution of some homemade L brackets and bolted these to the windscreen pillars to help take some of the weight and then drilled out the old rivets and fitted new ones.
We welcomed in the new year by going to a midnight prayer at a local Buddhist temple. It was different from any other new year celebrations I have ever had before, but it hasn’t persuaded me to become religious. We were missing life on the road. It was time to crack on.
The first border we attempted between Thailand and Cambodia refused to let the car through as apparently they did not have the right stamps for the paperwork. Frustrated, we moved on to one of the biggest and busiest borders in Thailand, Aranyapathet to Poipet.
The border crossing was busy with market traders and casino goers and after three hours we were through the border and made our journey on the relatively smooth tarmac to the city of Siem Reap for a visit to Cambodia’s most famous attraction: Angkor Wat.
The temples didn’t disappoint. Even though most of them are now ruins, it was not hard to imagine their grandeur in their heyday. Witnessing the sunrise over Angkor Wat is supposed to be a magical experience. This is something we didn’t want to miss. So we went in search for a camp spot within the Angkor Wat complex and managed to find one just
behind the hilltop temple of Phnom Bakheng, in the jungle and out of sight as we weren’t meant to camp there.
We joined the crowd fighting for the optimal position for the sunrise photo. However, the weather didn’t play ball and it just got gradually lighter without the appearance of the sun. Angkor Wat itself was impressive nonetheless.
The next stage of the trip took us to the far northern part of Cambodia where we went in search of wild gibbons in Ratanakiri. On the journey, the tarmac road gave way to a red, dusty dirt track and eventually we arrived in a town where the road ran out and our only option to carry on was a ferry across the river.
On the other side of the river, we encountered more red and dusty roads, which turned in to sand tracks with big ruts. The locals were able to make their way around them on scooters. Soon enough, the road was too bad and it was getting too late to attempt to get through so we found a camp spot for the night, telling ourselves that the distant animal calls we could hear were the gibbons.
Following our mini off-road adventure, we headed south again for the capital, Phnom Penh. The traffic around the city was pretty manic due to the vast number of scooters, auto-rickshaws, and motorbike lorries. Visiting the school-turned-prison and the orchard-turned-killing-field from the Khmer Rouge era, we learned about the dark and very recent history of this country from the people who lived through it all. It was an incredibly moving and harrowing experience and will certainly stay with us.
It was time for a change of scenery so we headed south to visit the coastal regions of Kep, Kampot and Sihanoukville. We ate some fine seafood, visited a Kampot pepper plantation and learned how to sail.
In seven months, we have travelled over 30,000 miles through some off-the-beatentrack countries and met some wonderful people, both locals and fellow overlanders. Australia was originally going to be our final destination but we have realised how much we loved this lifestyle, so we will be extending our trip to cover South and North America when we complete our time in Australia.
For now, it is time to find a safe place to store the car, and refill our bank account. We hope to be back on the road again and start exploring Australia before the heat of the summer really kicks in.
“In seven months we have travelled over 30,000 miles”